The capabilities are built into both platforms and they integrate well. I was able to get the Team Foundation Build service that is built into Visual Studio Online to automatically build the Excido solution whenever I check in any changes. I was also able to get it to automatically deploy the new build to Microsoft Azure.

I’m currently deploying directly to the production environment so what you see at http://www.excido.net/ is always the latest code. When I get to version 1.0, Azure has the concept of “slots” or staged deployment. This will allow me to deploy to a staging environment where I can verify the deployment and then swap the staging slot with the production slot.

This probably sounds like an advertisement, but the ease of configuration and online availability of the combination of Azure and Visual Studio Online make state of the art, business class DevOps tools available to everyone, including one-man operations like myself. Even though I’m working alone and I’m only able to work on this project a few days every month, I’m able to keep making what I think is respectable progress.

It’s hard to believe that there are still much larger organizations that spend countless hours and dollars fighting this battle that has already been won.